7/7 inquests: devastation of King's Cross station

The force of the blast in the King's Cross bomb attack in London on 7/7 was so
great that six of those killed were blown on to the tracks, the inquest
heard.

Twenty-six people died when teenage suicide bomber Jermaine Lindsay blew himself up between King's Cross and Russell Square Tube stations in the deadliest of the four atrocities on July 7 2005.

Earlier delays on the Piccadilly Line meant the train was packed with up to 1,500 passengers in ''crushed'' conditions, the hearing was told.

One woman travelling in the carriage where the bomb went off said she had never seen so many people in one Tube carriage before.

Lindsay, 19, was also able to claim more victims than his fellow terrorists because the Piccadilly Line is much deeper underground and has narrower tunnels than the Circle Line, where the other blasts took place.

In contrast to the other attacks, survivors of the King's Cross explosion escaped from both ends of the train.

Lindsay was in the front carriage when he set off his device just after pulling out of King's Cross station.

Passengers at the back of the train were able to walk the short distance back to King's Cross.

But those at the front had to climb through the driver's cabin and walk 680m along the track to Russell Square.

A police video filmed on the night of July 7 2005, after the train had been cleared of dead and wounded, shows the scenes of devastation that met rescuers.

The driver's cab has a shattered window and wires hang from the ceiling of a carriage mangled by the blast.

Newspapers have been trampled underfoot by the fleeing passengers and there are piles of abandoned handbags and rucksacks.

Equipment used by the emergency services - including torches, electric lights, high-visibility jackets, crates of bottled water and bottles - is littered on the seats.

Twenty of those who died in the King's Cross blast were found in the first carriage, while the other six were found on the tracks having been blown out of the train by the force of the explosion, the inquest heard.

Of the 20 victims in the carriage, at least six were alive for some time after the blast.

Four passengers were evacuated from the train but later died, the hearing was told.

It was disclosed today that the family of Behnaz Mozakka, 47, suffered unnecessary anguish when they were told in April for the first time that she survived for 35 to 40 minutes after the blast.

But Hugo Keith QC, counsel to the inquests, said later inquiries had discovered that this was not correct.

He said: ''It is unfortunate that the initial understanding of the evidence by police has proved on further analysis to be erroneous, because of course it has only served to increase the pain and distress of the Mozakka family.

''Such confusion as has arisen is, I am afraid, not unexpected given the scale and horrific nature of the scene that confronted the emergency services.''